bio lopsided bio lopsided bio lopsided bio lopsided bio lopsided bio lopsided

When Shani (pronounced Shah-nee) decided to hit the VERY long road between Tel Aviv and British Columbia, carrying an acoustic guitar in a soft case and not much else, the first thing I wanted to say was, hey girl, better grow a tough hide before you undertake such a mission.

First, there's no actual road between Tel Aviv and Vancouver. That's unless you are willing to go through some pretty hostile territories and then attempt to prove that the anthropologists were right - the original Native Americans did reach Canada hopping from one ice sheet to another in the Bering Strait. And then there's the small matter of making it in the toughest business in the world without having any association to speak of with any player in the industry.

23 years of age, Shani Eliraz was brought up in the sun scorched, sand-enveloped, Gum-tree speckled suburb of Rishon Lezion in Israel. The main local tourist attraction in Shani's hometown was a winery, fabled for what Israeli soldiers dub "Hammer Wine" after the special kick-in-the-stomach effect a Kosher sweet wine has on anyone who's not an orthodox Rabbi.

Beleaguered, like any other teenager in Suburbia, by academic boredom and not enough teenage angst, she started a band with high school friends who aspired to create that certain odor of the early nineties, Teen Spirit. She played the guitar, the bass, piano and sax, and from time to time filled in for the drummer when he was too upset over missing a beat.

The band hit a crossroads after graduation, since its members were now scheduled to replace the academic boredom with the dread of a mandatory military service. Though the army sometimes grants discharge for those who are too artistic and delicate of nature, Shani made the decision to make the best of a harsh necessity and charged ahead. Two years went by, many loves and heartaches with them, and something that has been brewing for a while has started to simmer in her.

Shani moved to Tel Aviv and worked odd jobs to support herself. When she made enough money, she took her hard-earned Strat and battered acoustic guitar, and a handful of songs she had written in the years before, and went into the studio to record her demo, "Painting an Overture."

While doing not-so-brief a stint as a Journalist in Israel's most prestigious media group, Haaretz, Shani started rehearsing again, concentrating on guitar technique. While re-acquainting herself with beloved 90s icons such as The Breeders and Belly, she has also delved into funky metal styles, and no less than moody hip hop such as that of the Fugees. White girls can't rap, she kept saying. But she did.

In an almost ironic epilogue to that chapter, just one week ahead of leaving home, Shani was asked by the owners of Fast Music label in Israel to play at their club "The Record Player" in Tel Aviv. They had overheard her in a recording session she was doing with friends and wanted her to play at their club. Just 48 hours before taking the red eye to Europe, Shani played a full set of her songs and some beloved covers to an audience of friends and strangers.

Currently, Shani is on the road in Canada and USA, playing clubs and small venues. To book or contact, visit http://www.shanieliraz.net